This publication from ODI, a think tank focused on injustice and inequality, presents an overview of the key features of migration and asylum policy, recent trends in migration patterns, and public opinion of and political narratives around refugees and migrants, in Poland. This information is framed in the context of the transformation of Poland from an ethnically homogeneous country into one that receives large numbers of immigrants. 

The report highlights the fact that opinion polls have historically painted Poland as one of the societies most favourably disposed towards refugees in Europe, but that this changed radically in 2015. That year saw the development of the so-called European migrant crisis, when over a million migrants from Middle Eastern and African countries - the vast majority fleeing Syria and Afghanistan - began arriving and claiming asylum in Europe. In Poland, these people were seen not as genuine refugees but as irregular migrants, and public opinion of them fell. In 2022, the report states, with the influx into Poland of people displaced by the war in Ukraine, public attitudes towards some refugees showed improvement.

The report observes a dichotomy in perceptions of migrants in Poland: those from the Middle East and Africa are not seen as 'real' refugees, and are often believed to pose a security threat to the state, while those from Ukraine are viewed as 'genuine' refugees who are deserving of support. This said, according to the authors of the report, the positive narratives that have existed around newcomers from Ukraine until now may again change in the future, propelled by long-term concerns related to rising costs of living.